Bulgaria and Romania Jobless Rise as Eurozone Unemployment Rate Dips

Eurostat said the jobless rate in the eurozone dipped to 12.1% in October, down from 12.2% in September (Reuters)

The number of people out of work in Bulgaria and Romania has risen in October as unemployment across the eurozone dipped, according to official figures.

Eurostat, the statistical information arm of the European Union, said the number of jobless people in Romania rose to 736,000 last month, up from 733,000 in September and 682,000 a year ago.

But the research revealed the country's unemployment rate remained stable at 7.3% for the fourth consecutive month this year.

The amount of people in Bulgaria out of work also increased in October to 449,000, a small jump from 445,000 the month before.

In addition, Eurostat said the country's unemployment rate saw a slight rise of 0.1% to 13.2%.

But the figures found the unemployment rate across the eurozone fell for the first time since 2011.

Eurostat said the jobless rate dipped to 12.1% in October, down from 12.2% in September.

The research also revealed the EU28 - the countries which make up the European Union - saw its unemployment rate remain stable at 10.9% over the same period.

However, the youth unemployment rate across the eurozone crept to a record high of 24.4% in October, up from 24.3% the month before.

Cameron Crackdown

The figures follow the announcement by David Cameron that he wanted to make it harder for EU migrants to access the country's welfare system and tackle "benefit tourism" in Britain.

The Conservative party leader's comments come before EU restrictions on Bulgarian and Romania migrants expire in January, enabling them to freely travel and work in the UK.

Cameron hoped to reassure the public that there will not be a wave of immigrants from the two EU states, while countering the UK Independence Party's "open-door immigration" opposition ahead of the European elections in 2014.

The prime minister told the Financial Times that, among other things, he wanted to change the law so that new EU migrants would have to wait three months before they could access unemployment benefits.